The UNDP's 2006 report painted a gloomy picture of water and sanitation conditions, in most economically vulnerable regions in the world. Sherine Nasr leafs through It isn't scarcity, but inequality, that deprives people of their right to a glass of clean water, according to the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) report for 2006. The report documented many controversial realities related to the issue of clean water, its sources, distribution, scarcity and impact on livelihoods and human development at large. The most controversial of all is the fact that there is enough water for everyone, but the problem is that some countries get more than their needs. Issued on 15 January under the title Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis, the report underlines the very simple but ominous observation that too many people do not have access to enough water under the right conditions. "Across much of the developing world, unclean water is an immeasurably greater threat to human life and security than violent conflict," noted James Rawely, the UNDP's resident representative in Cairo. Rawely added that unlike wars and natural disasters, lack of clean water does not make media headlines. In six chapters, the report focuses on two main themes: Water for Life and Water for Livelihoods. Some alarming facts are underlined about the growing crisis of water and sanitation. For example, 1.1 billion people in developing countries do not have adequate access to water; while 2.6 billion lack proper sanitation. The diarrhea caused by contaminated water kills 1.8 million children each year. At the start of the 21st century, unclean water is the world's second biggest killer of children after respiratory infections. Some 443 million school days are lost each year through water- related illness, while almost 50 per cent of all people in developing countries are suffering at any given time from a health problem caused by water and sanitation deficits. "To add to these human costs, the crisis in water and sanitation holds back economic growth, with sub-Saharan Africa losing five per cent of GDP annually -- far more than the region receives in aid," Rawely said. He continued that unclean water is, in short, trapping millions of the world's poorest people in a cycle of deprivation. Under the title "Ending the crisis in water and sanitation", the report highlighted the fact that exclusion from clean water and basic sanitation destroys more lives than any war or terrorist act. "It also reinforces the deep inequalities in life chances, that divide countries and people within countries on the basis of wealth, gender and other markers for deprivation," added the report. Statistics alone hide the reality experienced daily by the people who are deprived from clean water and sanitation. Not having access to clean water is equivalent to collecting water from drains, ditches, sharing domestic water with animals, or relying on unprotected wells that are breeding grounds for pathogens -- as the case is in rural Sub-Saharan Africa. A World Health Organisation (WHO) research carried out for the UNDP report estimated that the overall cost of the current deficit totals $170 billion or 2.6 per cent of developing countries' GDP, while the cost required to meet Sub-Saharan Africa's needs is $23.5 billion or five per cent of GDP. "Achieving the Millennium Development Goal target of halving the proportion of people without access to water and sanitation would cost about $10 billion annually for low-cost, sustainable technology," indicated the report. "Universal access would raise this figure to $20-30 billion, depending on the technology in use." The following two chapters look into more detail at some specific policies needed to bring the Millennium Development Goal target, as well as wider water and sanitation targets within reach. Most notable among these is the crisis in water and sanitation, which are among the poor's intrinsic needs. The report revealed that almost two in three people lacking access to clean water survive on less than $2 a day, with one in three living on less than $1 a day. "More than 660 million people without sanitation live on less than $2 a day, and more than 385 million on less than $1 a day," according to the report. The comparisons of average water use between rich and poor countries also highlight the scale of global inequality. People lacking access to clean water in developing countries consume less water because they have to carry it over long distances. Equally critical is the fact that sanitation lags behind water. "In all regions and in almost all countries, sanitation provision lags far behind access to water -- and there is no evidence that the gap is narrowing," stated the report, adding that the countries which allow sanitation coverage to lag are destined to see the benefits of progress in water diminished as a result. Ironically, public spending in the water and sanitation sectors as a whole is less then 0.5 per cent of GDP. The overall spending is relatively low, compared to other areas of social spending such as public health, but when measured against military spending, the figures are alarming. "India spends eight times more of its national wealth on military budgets than on water and sanitation. Pakistan spends 47 times more," disclosed the report. "At the same time, Ethiopia, one of the poorest countries in the world with some of the lowest coverage rates, still manages to mobilise almost 10 times more for military spending than for water and sanitation." The report nonetheless monitors some improved sanitation success stories in urban slums with large and highly concentrated populations, mainly based on community initiatives and individual participation. Dedicated to water scarcity, risk and vulnerability, another chapter highlights the fact that globally, there is more than enough water for all, but differences in availability across and within regions further highlight the distribution problem. "Some places, such as Brazil and Canada, get far more water than they can use; others, such as countries in the Middle East, get much less than they need. Water- stressed Yemen (198 cubic metres per person) is not helped by Canada's overabundance of fresh water (90,000 cubic metres per person)," noted the report. Alarmingly, by 2025, more than three billion people could be living in water-stressed countries, with 14 countries slipping from water stress, to water scarcity. In the Middle East and North Africa, specifically, the report highlighted that average water availability is falling by more than a quarter. "By 2025, more than 90 per cent of the region's people will be living in water-scarce countries," it warned. Regarding water competition in agriculture, while land and water are the two key assets on which poor people depend for their livelihoods, water insecurity remains a powerful risk factor for poverty and vulnerability. The report examined success and failure stories of the water reform policies applied in a number of countries such as Tanzania, the Philippines, Chile and the USA. It concluded that "developing the institutions, rules and norms to regulate water markets in the public interest is a complex exercise. In most cases, rapid shifts to transferable rights systems are likely to lead to unacceptable social and political consequences in developing countries facing intense competition for water resources," it noted. In its concluding chapter, the report discussed the management of trans-boundary waters, drawing upon cases of cooperation and conflict among countries managing their cross-water resources. "Managing shared water can be a force for peace or for conflict, but it is politics that will decide which course is chosen," it asserted, adding that because water is a flowing resource rather than a static entity, its use in any one place is affected by its use in other places, including countries. For some 39 countries, with a population of 800 million people, at least half their water resources originate beyond their borders. This applies to Iraq, Syria, Bangladesh and Egypt to name a few. Nevertheless, mismanagement of trans-boundary waters can be costly. "Some of the world's most visible environmental disasters bear testimony to the human development costs of non-cooperation in trans- boundary water management," according to the report. A case in point is Lake Chad, which today is one-tenth the size that it was 40 years ago.
